From Coinjock, NC to Belhaven, NC



At the helm

 We got out of Coinjock around 8:30 this morning.  The light was nice and I had a chance to grab this one shot of the restaurant where we had eaten the previous morning.

We motored for about an hours until we reached the Albemarle Sound.  The wind was picking up and we just put out the jib and turned off the motor.  The wind was from the NW and we were heading South with following seas.  The boat took off and was fast downwind.  The wind was generally blowing between 18 and 24 knots and we saw gusts to 26.  In general we were doing in excess of 7 knots the whole time and at one point we saw 10.4 knots of the knot meter.  We were surfing down the waves and having a ball.

There was only one bridge that needed to open for us today.  It was on the Alligator River and it was a swing bridge and the operator of the bridge was having a difficult time today because of the winds.

After we got out of main part of the Alligator River, we headed down this channel that has been dug.  We did did this late in the day as we were trying to make Belhaven, so we could get a marina with an electric hookup.  The temps are supposed to be near freezing tonight and we wanted heat.  However, the sun set and 5:30 and we still had nearly 12 miles to go.  We put on the running, navigation, masthead and steaming lights and went down the canal.  We only saw two other boats in there so traffic was not a problem and it is as straight as a ruler so navigation was simple.

When we got out of the channel and headed into the marina at night, the 2,000,000 candlepower light I purchased before the trip came in handy to light up the channel markers at a distance of a quarter of a mile.  We put steaks purchased before leaving on the BBQ and enjoyed that before turning in.

We hope for an early start tomorrow to possibly make it to Beaufort.

Here is a link that will show our position.    Click here.  I will try to post this on a regular basis.